Easter Blessing

We were able to bless Isaac in our ward on Easter Sunday. Greg and I are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives that we couldn't even fit them all in our house! We wish everyone could have been there. It was a lovely day though and we were especially glad to have my Grandma and Grandpa Buroker here all the way from Montana. I didn't get any pictures of Isaac in his blessing outfit becuase my camera died half-way through the day and I lost the charger, but today I found it (whew!), so I will do a few belated pics and post them later.



Isaac doing what he does best- sleeping through all the action! (Except when he is crying through all the action!)


Will had his first Easter egg hunt at Grandma Barbara's this year with all his cousins. Grandma and the aunties went all out on the prizes! Will filled his bucket up after a lot of coaching from Daddy.


Isaac is doing really well. He had a couple weeks where he cried quite a lot, but he has calmed down some. He sleeps well at night and I think he's starting to get into the routine of eating, sleeping, and playing (or staring at Mommy making faces and watching brother play). He is a really big little fellow. His best clothing fit (length-wise anyway) is 6 month clothes (cringe). He is a strong guy, working on holding up his head, and very curious to see what's going on, but from the safety of Mommy's arms.

William is his typical, un-fazed self. He ignores Isaac most of the time, but will occasionally help me burp the baby or examine the baby's facial features. He's had especially fun time the last two days with Auntie Tanza staying with us. We're so glad she will be home all summer!

So in talking to a few people I've realized that my description of Isaac's birth sounds like he was actually born in the birthing tub. He wasn't; I thought it would be cool to do but found out that facilities need to have special certification to allow water births and McKay Dee doesn't have it. We just used the tub during labor (and, by the way, really enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone- if you're going to have a baby here anytime soon, request room 4!).

Since coming home, Isaac has been battling Jaundice. We had the billirubin lights delivered to our house last Sunday and had to stop breastfeeding for a couple days trying to get his levels down to normal. The picture above with the baby glowing is him on the lights with blankets over the top. We finally heard today that we can resume nursing and quit those dang lights (he does not like them at all)! I'm so glad. Isaac hated the formula and didn't sleep for more than 2 1/2 hours the whole time he was on it, day and night (when he's nursing I have to wake him up after 4 hours to feed him and he acts so much calmer).

Isaac is growing well- he had his 2 week check up today and he weighs 10 lbs, 2 oz, and grew an inch since he was born (isn't that amazing?), so he's in the 99th percentile for height.

I am amazed at how fast I recovered from labor. I feel really good except for a cold I got from William. Yeah, being sick with a sick 2 year old and a newborn on billirubin lights has made for a rough week, plus we had to spend 3 hours in an Insta-Care Tuesday because we thought Will broke his toe by dropping a can of Spaghetti-O's on it, but he just got a nice bruise and killed his toe-nail. Really, we're not those parents who run to the doctors for every little thing like that, but the kid was much more upset and in pain this time than he was when he actually did break his foot. It's so hard to tell with kids, especially when they can't really tell you what's up. Anyway, we are looking forward to a better week next week!

HE'S HERE!

Isaac Brian Poulsen finally came Thursday, March 19 at 7:21 pm. He weighed 9 lbs 14 oz and was 22 inches long.

When I woke up on Thursday morning I felt a little different, but I couldn't explain how. My midwife had told me to watch for consistent contractions, but I still was feeling just cramps and random contractions here and there. I got up and got breakfast for William and myself and debated about what I should do. I went to the bathroom and there was a little bit of show, so I decided since that was new we should go to the hospital and just see what was going on. I called Greg at school and he called his mom to come up. Greg got here about 15 minutes later and we worked on packing our bag and cleaning up the house, then I took a shower. When Barbara got here we left Will with her and left about 10:15 for the hospital which is only 5 minutes away.

My midwife had told us several times that if we got tired of waiting we could go to the hospital and fib a bit about my dilation so they would admit me. I had been a 5 on Tuesday and I didn't think it had changed, so we told the nurse I had been a 3. When she checked me she said I was a 5+ or 6, so I was in. They told me if there was no change in dilation in 2 hours they would start Pitocin, which dismayed me; I didn't think there would be a change because I felt pretty much the same as I had for the last 3 weeks. So we started walking the halls. Two hours later they checked and I was a 7! I was able to be the first person to use the hospital's brand new birthing tub, which was so cool! Greg was showing the nurse how to work the doors and drains becuase she didn't know. Then we walked some more, then I was an 8, then we walked some more, and then I was a 9. I still felt the same as I had all month long. Then my midwife broke my water and we walked some more. Then there started to be defined, strong contractions and we went into the delivery room. I spent some time sitting on the edge of the bed with my arms around Greg and some time on a birthing ball. I was so glad for Greg and my midwife, they were both wonderful. We were so blessed to not have any complications with the delivery.

Isaac is a sweet little boy with a mild temperment. He spends a lot of his awake time looking around and making really funny faces. We came home from the hospital on Friday night and have enjoyed getting to know him since then. William thinks he is ok and will give Isaac a kiss and help burp him, but he's not too interested beyond that (can you blame a 2-year old? The baby doesn't really DO anything!). We are thrilled to have him here.

... bleh...

We decided instead of inducing yesterday we would have my midwife Karen strip my membranes and see if that started anything. It didn't. Yay for Karen, though. She came to the clinic twice on a Sunday to do it, once at noon and once at 7:00 pm. Now that we are nearing the end, all those horrible contractions and cramps I had for 3 WEEKS that made everything almost unbearable are gone, so it's nice I'm not in pain anymore, but now how am I going to get this kid out?! His growth has slowed down so I'm not so panicked about his size and more willing to wait it out. A little. My midwife is amazed I haven't had him yet- everything looks so favorable she told us she didn't know what was holding him in. I guess this little boy just wants to come when he wants to come, which I guess is ok. As long as it's soon.

William decided enough waiting for the baby, he has a life to live. Go figure. He dressed himself up entirely on his own in this little get-up the other day. I think my little boy thinks he is a white rapper or something.

.... and Waiting

Well, here is the deal. The baby measured almost 9 pounds on Wednesday, so we want him born as soon as possible (before it's IMpossible!), but my midwife said she has to have a medical reason to induce me before 2 weeks. But, she said as soon as a baby measures 10 pounds they are labeled macrosomic and that is a legitimate reason to induce labor. I know we will hit 10 pounds next week. As much as I would like to not be induced, I am SO uncomfortable carrying around this bowling ball on my hips, and also worried that the longer we wait the more difficult the delivery will be. We have an appointment Tuesday, so we'll see where we're at then. At the longest we will have wait until next Sunday (2 weeks early) and induce then.

Meanwhile, Greg and I have been researching and I have been trying anything that anyone has ever said could possibly induce labor. This includes: eating hot peppers, pineapple, spicy food, and Chinese food, drinking raspberry tea, acupressure, massage, different stretches, long walks, housework, and gardening. The last resort is castor oil, which I've head works, but I've also heard it just makes you really uncomfortable intentinally speaking. That, and the fact that we haven't been able to find it in any store yet leaves that option untried.

As soon as the little man gets here, there will be many pictures here to enjoy as Greg is eger to put our new camera to work (a bad economy may be bad for retailers, but Circuit City going out of business is good for us!)

While we're waiting for the baby, enjoy this cute pic of Will. This was taken mid-yogurt cup. I don't know what he loves more- yogurt or getting his picture taken.

Already Waiting... Still

Just a little update on baby #2. I have been having good contractions since Sunday that get just a tiny bit worse each day. In the morning I don't usually have any at all, but as the day progresses they get stronger and stronger. By the end of the day I wonder "am I really going into labor?" Then I go to bed and start all over the next day. Tuesday when I timed the contractions they were from 3 to 8 minutes apart and I had 9 in an hour. They are still pretty short though. I don't remember to time them, plus our clocks don't have second hands, but I guess they're about 3 to 7 seconds long is all.

Since I was induced with William I don't have much to compare this to. I would say right now I feel like I did with him about 3 hours after my Pitocin was started. Not very helpful. I know things are still so early (I'll be 36 weeks on Saturday), but, without getting into details, let's just say we know things have started. It's just a matter of when they will end! Last week the baby measured 7.1 pounds (the midwife said give or take 1 pound), so he's plenty big. Maybe he's just ready to go! William was 8 lbs 9 oz when he was born at 36 1/2 weeks.

It's such a strange time. The worse I feel, the more excited I get. Greg is excited too. I think anytime I call him during the day he wonders if it's go time. William has been cute. All he can talk about is "a baby." No matter what I ask him- "what do you want for breakfast, what should you wear today? where's daddy?" the answer is "A BABY!"

Holy Snow, Batman!

We have had quite the storm today. The snow started sometime before 5:00 am and fell all day long. We probably got about 8" on top of what we already had, making a foot or more. William likes to "help" me shovel the sidewalks- I shovel and he follows behind kicking and throwing snow back onto the walk. But he has fun and I get some exercise, so it's all good.